When Zaheer taught Yadav how to bowl

Hyderabad, Aug 28: India's Umesh Yadav has revealed that he learnt the tricks of fast bowling from Indian pace spearhead Zaheer Khan as he had thought speed was the only weapon before taking tips from the veteran.

Yadav, who has played just 7 Tests so far, similar to Ashwin, has impressed one and all with his performance as he has 2 for-wicket hauls and a one five-for to his credit.

Yadav also felt that Australian tour was a great learning experience for the youngster as he took a lot of tips from Zaheer Khan.

With 25 wickets off 7 Tests at 31.92, Yadav would like to improve a lot and it definitely takes time for youngsters to learn the trades of fast bowling.

Yadav also got 14 wickets from 4 matches during the tour Down Under, second highest wicket taker for India, credited his success to Zaheer Khan.

"I didn't know anything much besides bowling fast. Since I started bowling with Zak Bhai, he told me that with my pace, if I can gain a bit of control over the ball, I'll be a much better bowler and I'll get many more wickets," Yadav said.

"That's what I did in the latter part of the Australia tour - as I concentrated more on my line and length than earlier," Yadav added.

"He had ingrained in me the length that I had to hit, and I constantly kept that in mind before every delivery. I'm still working on it and I have a long way to go," he said.

"He told me the sooner you learn from your mistakes, the better you'll get. I always keep that in mind and try not to repeat my mistakes," said the 24 year old.

Yadav admitted that the entire team failed to play to its potential against Aussies as they witnessed a whitewash 0-4 at the hands of Clarke's men early this year.

"As a team, we didn't do too well but when I returned home, the only thing I kept in mind was to keep up with the way I bowled there and keep improving on it every day. I was very happy to be going to Australia. It's a dream of every fast bowler to bowl on Australian wickets. I'm very thankful to Zaheer-bhai," Yadav told bcci.tv

After India's win over New Zealand by an innings and 115 runs, Yadav said the team is looking forward to maintain the momentum.

"The last two series that we played didn't go well for us and we were under a lot of pressure ahead of this one. This is a good start to the season and we'll look to carry on in this vein."

Yadav picked two wickets in the Test match as he was the only pacer to pick wickets in the first Test as Ashwin and Ojha claimed 18 wickets in the Test match.

He further added saying that Indians also had a strategy against Kiwis as they concentrated more on spin.

"The wicket was not turning that much. Our spinners worked really hard for their wickets. But yes, when bowling on such slow and low wickets, we just try to keep pitching the ball on one side of the wicket consistently. That's what Zaheer bhai and I did ? we just kept bowling the same line and our spinners did the rest of the job," he said.

Yadav who replaced Ishant in teh XI, said "In this series, Ishant is coming after recovering from a surgery. If that wasn't the case, surely he would've been the first choice since he is more experienced than me.

Talking about his relationship with Ishant, Yadav said they share a good relationship.

"When I'm playing, he keeps giving me feedback about my bowling if he feels I'm doing something wrong. We share a very good relationship," he said.